The utility of select psychological, behavioral, and affective dimensions in differentiating among categories of eating disturbances.

Abstract

Three hundred twenty-six female undergraduate women participated in this investigation of the relationship of psychological, behavioral, and affective dimensions to categories of eating disturbances as delineated by the Questionnaire of Eating Disorders Diagnoses (Q-EDD). In addition to the Q-EDD, participants completed the Eating Disorder Inventory - second edition (EDI- 2), Beck Depression Inventory - second edition (BDI-II), State Trait Anger Expression Inventory - second edition (STAXI-2), and items from the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale. Discriminant analyses revealed that the select psychological, behavioral, and affective dimensions measured by these instruments were highly effective in differentiating between asymptomatic and symptomatic groups. Exploratory graphical analyses revealed that mean differences between the asymptomatic, symptomatic, and eating disordered groups were in the predicted direction for 10 of the 11 EDI-2 scales. On the affective scales, the pattern of differences among groups was more variable, although the same clear predicted pattern was observed for depression, trait anger, and suppressed anger. These results provide support for the validity of the Q-EDD categories. These results further suggest that differences between groups may be better characterized as a matter of the degree of severity of symptomatology, rather than substantive differences in the nature of symptoms themselves.